‘It Is Truly Out of Hand,’ Deputy Chief Says : Mayor Names Task Force to Fight Gangs

To an old bank building on South Vermont Avenue, they came from the beauty parlor and the shoe store down the block Thursday to hear Mayor Tom Bradley offer some soothing words about the gangs.

The gangs. Everybody in South Los Angeles knows the score, if not the exact numbers. Sixty-four people killed in gang violence in South Los Angeles so far this year, compared to 52 all of last year. The reason, most believe, is the drug business that the gangs run with a cutthroat vengeance.

Bradley has been on a publicity sprint of late, showing up here and there around the city with solutions to the trouble of the moment. His idea Thursday was a task force of local mayors to fight the gangs. Standing beside Bradley, the mayors of Lynwood, Compton and Inglewood and Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell pledged to work together.

‘A Time for Celebration’

“We simply cannot permit the hoodlums to take over the streets of our cities,” Bradley told about 50 people from the area around Vermont Avenue and Manchester Boulevard, a once-proud shopping district undergoing what City Hall calls “revitalization.”

Those with long memories and bars on their windows might scoff at the idea that what is needed are task forces and blue-ribbon committees. But the chief policeman for the area, Deputy Chief Jesse Brewer of the Los Angeles Police Department, watched the mayors from a corner and sounded pleased.

“Believe me, this is a time for celebration for us,” Brewer said. “It is truly out of hand.”

Earlier in the week, Brewer took what passes for a bold step in the Police Department. Without waiting for the nod from superiors, he sent a directive to the 2,500 police officers in the inner city launching a counteroffensive against the gangs.

‘Every Officer . . . Is Responsible’

Even traffic officers and bunco detectives will be expected to stop and question suspected gang members they encounter in their work, Brewer said. In the past, patrol cars and detectives would respond to gang crime scenes, but a small detail of specialists was responsible for keeping an eye on the gangs and their movements.

“We tended to specialize in the department, and that might have been a mistake,” Brewer said. “Now every officer, regardless of assignment and rank, is responsible for the gang problem.”

This may mean surprise knocks on the doors of some South Los Angeles homes from police officers sent to notify parents that their son is a gang member. The police sometimes send such notices now, “but we don’t know if the parents even get the mail,” Brewer said.

Brewer has been in charge of law enforcement in Central and South Los Angeles for several years. He acted, he said, because of the escalating violence and a recent incident in which gang members fired on police at a Sports Arena concert. A week later, the gangs commandeered a community carnival in his neighborhood.

‘I Just Did It’

“To me, that was it. I didn’t ask permission, and I couldn’t afford to wait for any more money. I just did it,” Brewer said.

As for Bradley’s task force, Brewer said it might help persuade elected officials of what police already know--that the gangs grow more malicious every month. And, he said, it is important that this task force not just fade away like some others.

“One of the things we’ve learned is these temporary cures don’t work. We’re not going to do this for a few weeks and just stop.

“If they don’t keep their word,” Brewer said, a grim smile passing over his face, “we’ll let you know.”